sciatica specialist - Damn, that pain in my a##! Here's what you need to know about

Damn, that pain in my a##! Here's what you need to know about

If you're reading this article, it's a good bet that you have a radiating pain running down the back of your leg that just won't go away. If what I'm about to tell you sounds familiar, don't worry, help is on the way.

So how do you get rid of your pain? Will learning one new stretch be enough? It very well may be. However depending on the severity of your condition you may need to change your activities of daily living to include new stretches, new exercises that include the use of the hip rotators like roller-blading, basketball, tennis, etc, and even better, specific corrective exercise specific to your situation... like those covered in our video. As always, learn as much as you can about your condition, so that you can ask the tough questions to your healthcare providers and get the best care possible.

A physical examination and the medical history of the patient are very important for diagnosing sciatica. The doctor needs to eliminate normal back pain or lumbago before proceeding for sciatic nerve treatment. There is always a possibility that a difference in lengths of the two legs may cause pain in the lower back.

In most cases, people go to physical therapy or minimize their physical activity to break the pain ' spasm cycle and in most cases your symptoms subside. However'the event will also set you up for a life time of sciatic pain if the Piriformis muscle does not recover 100% in both strength and flexibility.

3. Pressure caused by Isthmic spondylolisthesis which is simply when a vertebrae slips or moves... this can sometimes pinch the sciatic nerve but often times people who have this condition don't have any pain, symptoms, or even know they have it!

First, let me tell you why today's traditional treatment methods just flat out miss the boat. The medical community is so conditioned and focused on treating only the symptoms and trying to get in as many patients a day as possible, that many people are misdiagnosed and/or mistreated.

The other way sciatic pain creeps into your life is due to your lifestyle and habits, and that is what we like to call the process. The process can be described as a prolonged onset of symptoms based on your everyday activities...

If you are not sure which one of the four is causing your sciatic pain, I recommend you start with the basics. Most cases of sciatic pain are caused by muscle imbalances so if you begin to work on correcting any muscle imbalances you have, you should start to see improvement right away.

In most cases, medical history is able to identify patients that are likely to have a herniated disc. Sciatic pain is superficial and localized. It also gives a feeling of numbness or tingling. It aggravates when pressure is applied between discs.

One last point, sciaitic pain is not caused by a lack of prescription medications so don't think that taking some anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants will fix it... it won't! Also, many people are able to eliminate sciatic pain within days just by performing a few exercises and stretches... but not general exercise... the exact corrective exercises and stretches they need to do.

If their posture is wrong when they are sitting and standing, unfortunately doing the exercises will provide the person with only a small amount of relief from the condition. It is important that when using these exercises a person should be carrying them out twice a day and should only be doing them under the supervision of an expert such as a fitness instructor.

Let me give you some examples of what I mean: 1. If you sit on the edge of your chair with you legs separated and your feet pointing outward you are keeping your Piriformis muscle in a shortened position and that's how it gets tight and with extended sitting in that position, it gets weak form lack of use. Hence the imbalance.

4. Pressure caused by a herniated or bulging disc. A herniation is when a disc protrudes out from between the vertebrae and this can either be caused by an event like a car accident, or, by months or years of uneven pressure due to muscle imbalances. It is also important to note that many people with herniated discs don't even experience pain or symptoms, and many don't know they have the condition.

Recovery Tip: In severe cases, the sciatic pain can run from the top of the hip to the bottom of the foot. It is very important to recognize that changes and shifting of pain is often times a sign of improvement. Further more as a way of gauging recovery, take note of how far down the leg the pain goes. If the pain goes to the foot one day and then only makes it to the calf and then to the knee and then it can only make it to the hamstring that is a sign of improvement. You should feel good about those noticeable improvements and this should give you encouragement to keep working toward a full remission of pain.

As a result, the patient can experience less pain and a quicker recovery. Not all patients are able undergo discectomies or microdiscectomies. A lot has to do with the particular nature of the patient's herniated disc.

Yes it is important that a person does rest for a couple of days after the symptoms have appeared but after this they should take up some form of light exercise. Preferably they should be looking to do exercises which will help to strengthen and stretch the muscles in their back.

Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome are the same condition... it is just that the medical community is starting to call the condition by the muscle (Piriformis) that is involved and getting away from calling it by the name of the nerve that is involved (sciatic) nothing more than semantics.

A discectomy is an invasive surgical procedure that removes herniated disc material that is protruding into the spinal canal and pressing upon nerve tissue. This pressure can cause numbness, weakness, tingling, or mild to severe pain in the back and leg.

2. Pressure caused by spinal stenosis, which is a decrease in the space between the vertebrae. This is primarily caused by uneven pressure and compression due to muscle imbalances.

As you can see, there is a trend here... in nearly every case, muscle imbalances are the primary cause of the pressure being placed on the sciatic nerve.

When you have an injury to a muscle, both strength and flexibility are compromised, and if your recovery ends before strength and flexibility return, you will never be 100% and will likely struggle with the problem forever.

However, from a technical stand point the process really describes the development of the muscle imbalance in your hip. The Piriformis muscle is responsible for external rotation (moving your leg so your feet point outward). So over time that muscle gets tight from the positions you put your self in and weakens from lack of use.

There are several self assessments you can perform to help identify which specific muscle imbalances you have and these are covered in our Lose the Back Pain Video along with step-by-step instructions on what to do to eliminate your imbalances and pain. You can learn more by visiting http://www.losethebackpain.com

About the Author:

For more information on discectomy alternatives see DRX9000 spinal decompression for sciatica at http://www.drx9000-spinal-decompression.com, a popular site with free info on the DRX9000 and other back pain treatments.

1. Pressure caused by shortening and tightening of the piriformis muscle. This is almost always due to months or years of muscle imbalances in the hip rotator muscles.

Diagnosing sciatica is a complex procedure. Since the pain can be indicative of other conditions as well, it is also necessary to rule out more serious conditions like infection or cancer. Sciatic is a progressive disease that can immobilize the patient to a great extent. Sciatica alternative remedies like exercises, yoga and acupuncture can be very effective to stem the progress of a highly developmental condition. On the first signs of pain in the lower back an examination by a specialist is highly recommended.

The problem is that sciatica is a set of symptoms rather than it actually being a diagnosis in itself. Therefore before it can be treated using either traditional prescribed medications or natural ones, a doctor will need to carry out various tests in order to give the correct diagnosis.

Microdiscectomy Alternative A newer, less invasive form of discectomy is also now available. This procedure is called a microdiscectomy and uses special magnifying and muscle-spreading instruments to allow the surgeon to view and operate on the herniated disc region. The surgeon can then perform the procedure through a smaller incision and cause less damage to the surrounding muscle and tissue.

When it comes to trying to find the best natural sciatica relief treatment, it is important that people understand just what it is. Too often people will get sciataca muddled up with other medical conditions.

Sciatic pain is simply caused by pressure being placed on the sciatic nerve and there are primarily four things that can create this... you may have one or more of the following:

"Sciatol really worked for me. After 2 weeks my shooting leg pain is gone and I feel so much better. Thank you!!!" Daniel

* X-Rays * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) * Computed Tomography (CT) Scan. * Electromyography - passing an electric current through a nerve to record the electrical waves associated with the activity of skeletal muscles. * Myelography - X-rays done after injecting a contrast medium into the space between vertebrae.

Find out what's causing your sciatic pain and learn exactly which exercises and stretches you should be doing by watching our Lose the Back Pain Video. Order your copy now online at http://www.losethebackpain.com

Symptoms such as a disability in walking suggest nerve root compression. In cases symptoms that are severe enough to consider a surgical intervention the physical examination is mostly followed by other investigative procedures. To confirm any doubts the physician might ask for, the doctor might perform any or all of the following tests:

Physical examinations include the following procedures. * The patient may be asked to lie down, face upward and the affected leg is then raised to various heights. * The doctor may also ask the patient to rotate the hip joint. Pain caused by these movements can often help in pinpointing the location of the pain and assessing the hip muscles. * Testing the strength of bending backward of the ankles and toes can also indicate the position where the nerve is likely to be pinched. * Another test used by many doctors is the reflex of your ankles.

What are the causes behind the pain of sciatica? Sciatica is usually associated with compression of the sciatic nerve due to a slipped or a herniated disc. A degenerative disc disease is a condition that is brought about by the ageing process. The sciatic nerve is sometimes pinched by the piriformis muscle that is located deep in the buttocks. Sciatic pain can also be caused by conditions that are not related with disc. Bad postures can also lead to pseudo sciatica, a pain that is similar to sciatica.

What Happens In A Discectomy? In a traditional discectomy -- often referred to as an open discectomy -- an incision is made in the patient's back over the herniated disc region. Muscle tissue around the herniated disc is removed and a retractor may be used to keep the muscle tissue and skin out of the way which gives the surgeon better access to the surgical area. In some cases, some of the vertebrae bone -- called the lamina -- may need to be removed to allow the surgeon better access to the disc. This procedure is called a laminectomy. Once the herniated disc fragments have been removed, the muscle tissue is put back and the surgical incision is closed with sutures.

Sciatic pain comes about either due to a traumatic event, muscle imbalances, or a combination of both. The event scenario is most likely the catalyst for sudden onset of sciatic pain. So what happens' when there is undue stress on the Piriformis muscle that stress causes it to go into spasm and then you have pain due to the Piriformis muscle putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Normally when sciataca has been diagnosed by a doctor they will either provide their patient with anti-inflammatory drugs to treat it. However if the condition has become so severe then the only way in which it may well be treated is through the use of surgery. But occasionally a doctor will try other forms of treatment such as manipulation of the spine, massage or physical therapy and will only resort to using surgery if all other recommended courses of treatment fail.

2. Another example is runners and bikers who actually work very hard tend to get sciatica because they fail to keep a strength vs. stretch balance in their workouts. Hence the imbalance creates a greater pull toward external rotation and the result is a tight Piriformis and an irritated sciatic nerve creating pain.

About the author:Article by Jesse Cannone of http://www.losethebackpain.com. Jesse is a certified personal fitness trainer andpost-rehab specialist and he has helped hundreds of individualsto eliminate their back pain. Visit his site now and be sure tosign up for his free email course on eliminating back pain.

Did you go see your primary care physician and get diagnosis of Sciatica only to have them refer you to an orthopedic specialist and than get a diagnosis of Piriformis Syndrome... and than be told to see a Physical Therapist and the PT tells you a little heat, ultra sound, electrical stimulation and some therapeutic exercises and we will have you good as new???

Herniated Discs Here is a simplified explanation of what happens with a ruptured or herniated disc. The disc itself is kind of like a soft jelly-filled donut. The outer wall of the disc is called the annulus fibrosus and the inner part of the disc -- the jelly part -- is called the nucleus pulposus. When the outer part of the disc becomes weakened, it can tear and allow some of the inner nucleus pulposus to leak out. When this inner jelly presses on the surrounding nerve tissue it can weakness, tingling and pain in the back and legs.

However there are more natural ways in which a person can treat this condition without them having to resort to using medications which can have other side effects. Although a lot of doctors will recommend that their patients take as much bed rest as possible, in a lot of cases this can actually make the condition worse rather than helping to alleviate the symptoms.

If this is the path you have been down and you're tired of all the worthless treatments that just don't work, you must read this article! I guarantee you, it will likely be far different than what you have read or heard anywhere else!

These are just two examples of how muscle imbalances can affect the Piriformis muscle and cause Sciatic pain. You may not be a runner or cyclist but I'll bet you have muscle imbalances that are causing your sciatic pain!

Before being considered for either type of surgery, the doctor will typically have an imaging study performed such as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or a CT (computed tomography) scan in order to help diagnose the specific cause of the problem. Discectomy and microdiscectomy procedures are normally done in a hospital under general anesthesia. In some cases discectomy can be performed in an outpatient surgical center.

The problem with sciataca is that once the muscles in the back become weak they will be unable to support the back correctly and this in turn will increase the amount of pain that the person is feeling. But as well as carrying out these exercises, a person will need to look at the way they sit and stand.

This article is not meant to replace the advice of your personal health care provider. Be sure to consult with your physician to explore all your back pain treatment options before taking any medical course of action.

As well as using exercises in order to provide you with natural sciatica relief from the pain, a person may want to try using certain essential oils as well. These include certain properties within them which are ideal for treating the various symptoms and helping to relieve the pain a person will feel when suffering from sciatica. Ricky runs a back pain relief website. Visit his site today for more information on the latest back pain and morphine pumps.

Discectomy surgery is a common treatment for herniated or ruptured discs of the lumbar spine and may be used for back pain sufferers who have not responded to traditional non-surgical treatments such as anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, traction, spinal decompression, and epidural steroid injections.

To learn more about muscle imbalances and how they affect your body, please read our article 'Aches, Pains, and Injuries' which you can find on our website here: http://www.losethebackpain.com/achesandpainsarticle.html

About the author:

Richard provides articles and information about herbal remedies on his site at http://remedyguidance.com

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